


Just Wait for the Punchline

by QuoteMyFoot



Series: Word Prompts for Three Houses [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-22 14:50:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21303884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuoteMyFoot/pseuds/QuoteMyFoot
Summary: To welcome Jeralt back to the Knights, Alois takes him out drinking - just like the old days!
Relationships: Alois Rangeld & Jeralt Reus Eisner
Series: Word Prompts for Three Houses [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1535843
Comments: 15
Kudos: 28





	Just Wait for the Punchline

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the November daily prompts over at r/FanFiction. **November 1 (Friday Rhymes): Beverage & leverage.**

Being reunited with the Captain again was a joy. After twenty years, the old sod hadn’t changed a bit. So, naturally, the first thing Alois did after Jeralt and Byleth settled in was take the old man out drinking with his colleagues, new and old.

Alois wasn’t stupid. He could see that there was something tense about Jeralt since his return – it didn’t take a genius to think that maybe if the man had let them think he was dead for twenty years, maybe the circumstances of his leaving had not been amiable. Alois was not sure what kind of quarrell he could’ve had with Lady Rhea, because she’d been devastated at his death and seemed to only hold joy at his return. But Jeralt was wary.

Maybe he would feel better if Alois could remind him of all his comrades here. Alois would always be the Captain’s man.

The other Knight of Seiros, even the normally distant Shamir, were more than curious to meet the famous Blade Breaker.

It took six drinks before the line of Jeralt’s shoulders relaxed at all, and the bastard was not even drunk yet. Alois was beginning to slightly regret his promise to pay his way. Hopefully his darling wife would understand the importance of reconnecting with his old master…

“So, Blade Breaker,” Catherine said. She’d kept up with him drink for drink and was starting to sway on her feet, but only a little. “How many blades have you _actually _broken?”

Jeralt sighed and gave Alois a disgruntled look before answering. “This is leading up to ‘Thunderbrand is unbreakable!’, isn’t it?”

Catherine chuckled. “You saw right through me! But come on, what do you say? It’s been ages since I’ve been able to go all out in a spar.”

“No thanks.” Jeralt downed the rest of his drink and pushed his chair out. Alois’s face fell. Was he going to leave so soon? “I’m not going to be responsible for smashing a Relic in my first week back.”

“Come oooon,” she whined. “I’ll buy you a drink. Several drinks!”

“Alois is already buying my drinks.”

“Yeah, and you’re going to drink the poor man into debt! Don’t you know he’s got a family now? You’re going to leave that daughter of his destitute.”

Little Emilia! She was so perfect and wonderful and small! Tiny little toes and fingers and the other day, she said, ‘Dada!’ What a clever daughter! Alois must be the luckiest father in the whole world.

“You’re thinking about her right now, aren’t you?” Jeralt’s gruff tone belied his smile. “I can tell by the stupid look on your face.”

Catherine looked from Jeralt to Alois, frowning. “What are you talking about? He always looks like that.”

“Must be a father thing,” Jeralt replied.

Catherine snorted.

“But you’ve convinced me. Alois, your time is up.”

Catherine grinned excitedly. “So you’ll fight with me?”

“Just don’t come crying to me if Thunderbrand ends up in two pieces.”

“Ha! Oh, you’ve got another thing coming, old man.” Catherine cracked her knuckles, still grinning. “Oi, Michel! Put the rest of the Blade Breaker’s drinks on my tab, alright?”

“I don’t know who’s going to regret this more,” Shamir said dryly. “You or your purse.”

“You say that like I’ve never sparred hungover before.” Catherine signalled the barkeep for another two drinks. “This time, my opponent gets to be hungover too! It’ll be great.”

“Oho!” Alois said. “Use the beverage for leverage!”

Catherine pulled a face.

Jeralt groaned. “You thought of that just now, didn’t you?”

“No, he probably thought of it when he asked you to come out with us,” Shamir said, grimacing. “But it was too late to say it then.”

Alois beamed at them. He wasn’t going to tell any of them that he’d been sitting on this one for nearly twenty years, thinking the Captain would never get to hear it, but the goddess was generous with her miracles. “A good joke should never go to waste!”

“I’m still waiting to hear one from you,” Jeralt groused.

Alois only laughed. The Captain used to say that all the time! It was already like he’d never been gone. “It’s good to have you back, sir.”

He paused with his tankard half way to his mouth, looking at Alois out of the corner of his eye. He put it down slowly. “You are daft, you know that?”

“Always have!” Alois said cheerfully.

Jeralt snorted and cracked a proper smile, even as he shook his head. “Good to see that some things never change.”

**Author's Note:**

> I always love to know what people think! This is my first time writing Alois so I'd be particularly interested in hearing how I did on that :) And any other kinds of comments welcome!


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